Swami Vivekananda, a revered Indian monk and philosopher, was a prominent disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. He played a pivotal role in introducing Indian philosophy and spirituality to the Western world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Swami Vivekananda’s quotes are a treasure trove of wisdom, offering profound insights into various aspects of life, spirituality, and self-realization.
His teachings are rooted in the ancient Indian scriptures, particularly the Vedas and Upanishads, and he interpreted them in a contemporary context, making them accessible to people of all backgrounds. Swami Vivekananda’s words continue to inspire and guide millions of individuals seeking meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in their lives.
Swami Vivekananda Quotes
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached.
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.
The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.
Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.
Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true
Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.
The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.
In one word, this ideal is that you are divine.
Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.
As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God.
If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.
God is to be worshipped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and next life.
When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.
External nature is only internal nature writ large.
The will is not free – it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect – but there is something behind the will which is free.
If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.
The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that.
May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the Christians give strength to you to carry out your noble idea.
Take risks in your life. If you win, you can lead, if you lose, you can guide.
Talk to yourself once in a day, otherwise, you may miss meeting an excellent person in this world.
Learn everything that is good from others but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others.
A man is not poor without a rupee but a man is really poor without a dream and ambition.
Do one thing at a time, and while doing it put your whole soul into it to the exclusion of all else.
If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by-heart a whole library!
If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest Sages in the world, and the encyclopedias the Rishis!
The present system of education is all wrong. The mind is crammed with facts before it knows how to think.
Dare to be free, dare to go far as your thought leads, and dare to carry out in your life.
I will tell you in plain language that your own work best when you work for others.
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel for.
Always try to represent yourself as happy. Initially, it becomes your look, gradually it becomes your habit and finally, it becomes your personality.
We must not be extremely attached to anything except God. See everything, Do everything, but be not attached.
The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves.
